MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

justamy - I actually kind of wondered about taking it every night (even though my sister in law does it and her doctor said it was fine) because it made me think what if I needed it to stop an allergic reaction?  Would it still work for that if I took it all the time for another purpose?  Just a thought I had...luckily I don't need it at this time so it remains just a thought!!

glennie - good point - I suppose all the companies want to try selling their own special version of the same thing...ha, ha!  Hang in there with the hot flashes.  I was going to say it will be cold soon, but then I remembered you are in FL so you probably have to wait a little longer.  Keep the AC running!!

I have trouble sleeping the night before chemo and the night of.  I just try to stay in bed.  Chamomile tea helps sometimes.

This is me and my sil/bff at chemo today.  Yeah, we got looks.

I worked nights when I was just out of nursing school. Unisom got me thru daytime sleeping. But oddly enough only 1/2 tab. Benadryl just makes my mind race if I take if for sleep. Made that mistake with some Tylenol PM.

MissingMercury - love the hats. Whatever it takes to make you laugh and gets you thru it. Hoping the odd looks were from other patients (though you may have given others some ideas) and not from the staff. One lady wore a rotating series of those knitted animal hats but she is from Canada - meaning it is cold there.

Luvmygoats, it is cold here now.  I have hats I rotate through.  Not too outlandish as they are for work.  You are right.  Any little thing to get you through this with some smiles is priceless.

missingmercury: love the matching earrings too!

Thanks all.  Her mom died of ovarian cancer years ago, so there was no way she was not going to support me and going to as many chemo's as she can does make them more bearable.

Happy Halloween all.  Wearing the minions to work today. 

great costume!

GREAT costume! 

ForHisGlory...oh my 8 children.  You are one busy lady. The only advice I can offer about the morning of surgery is take a Xanax if you have any.  It sure helped clam my nerves. 

(((hugs))) 

Yep, that's Katy Perry.

ForHisGlory, I was diagnosed at 49. Not as young as you, but the docs didn't think the areas on my mammograms were cancer.... and they were, so who knows how long it was there. I'm also premenopausal, grade 1. My Oncotype Dx score is 10.

After Lx, I found out my cancer was a little bigger, but the grade and HER2, ER and PR status did not change. Once you have your Lx, you should get a clear answer on your HER2 status. The only unexpected and bad thing was that cancer was found in my nodes. Surprised me and the docs.

I hope this helps you. I hope your surgery goes well and that you don't have any seizures. Anesthesia has come a long way, with new drugs being used.

One thing you might consider is having some friends or family bring your family meals. It will make things so much easier as you recover. Minimal grocery shopping and clean up. You will want to take it easy and save your energy for your kids. I have used the website TakeThemAMeal.com. It takes about 5 minutes to set up and all coordination is done by email.

I'll be praying for you!

Poppy

well, we've never seen what e really looks like! could she be the cheeto girl? I am sure in spirit anyway!

forHisglory, I was given a calming pill when waiting for the procedure. So I don't think you need to supply your own. Think it was a lorazapam. Sure helped the waiting for me. I also had the same schedule as you, but everything took longer and I didn't have the surgery until late afternoon. I remember someone asked if I was ok while waiting for a push down to  surgery and me saying I was fine, they gave me something and I am fine!!!! This with the wires all taped to my chest and the iv not put in my hand right. I did not care. They took great care of me in the operating room. So I'll say some prayers for you and your docs and nurses tomorrow. 

I also thought I would bounce back from procedure. I remember my surgeon telling me to take 3 or 4 days off work. Well, maybe because I am older or the position of the lx, I did not "bounce" back" very quickly. I had to learn acceptance and how to give my body time to heal. Do any of those teenagers like to cook and clean? Let them help you. 

My lx was 3 days before Christmas and my kids put Christmas dinner on and even bought me stocking stuff. Very sweet. They even got along for the most part. They were in their early 20s. Needless to say, I got lots of pjs that Christmas. lol and I sure used them.

true, and true, for me, but I was so busy loathing the drain, I didn't notice that!  i had no ideas that there was such a thing as a drain! My mother had had abdominal aortic aneurism surgery a few years back, and i was there to help her through the first week or so, and she had a huge incision, and huge staples, but no drain. She's fine, for being 80!

ForHisGlory - welcome and good wishes for an uneventful stay in hospital.

BookLady1 - hoping that evil chemo fairy leaves you alone this week.

Hi ladies! And welcome to this fun thread newbies! Sorry you have to be here but glad you found us. Best wishes tomorrow for an uneventful lumpectomy, FHG! The worst part I remember is riding over speed humps the first couple of weeks - you better grab that boob because bouncing hurts!

My son was getting ready for a Halloween party last night. Every time I see this picture I can't help but laugh!

Remember the Burger King? Well, he's been unemployed for a few years and now earns his living as Mike Tyson's sparring partner, haha!

It's hard to help a young person of the male gender fix his costume from 2500 miles away, but finally I got him to understand to tape together some wadded paper towels into the shape he needs and stuff it in there. Naturally, I told him to start working on it 3 weeks before, but noooo.  He put it on for the first time yesterday. Well, it seems to have worked out okay

Oh mac, I forgot about the pillow supporting your arm. I still like to do that. Now I have one under my knees, one under my right arm and one for my head. All that's missing is my left side, haha. I suppose I'll save that for a future man. 

So I made him make a longish wad of paper towels to put on the right side of his face from eye to chin and a smaller wad by his left temple. My plan was to use that strong tape for boxes and tape it on the inside but he said it wouldn't stick to the latex. So we made taped up wads to hopefully keep it all from falling out. However, he said we didn't plan on him sweating so much inside that mask and he said the paper towels soaked it up and flattened out. Oh well. He should have started 3 weeks ago like Mama said!

This is post-paper towels but pre-sweating: